Modem correct dental hygiene practice requires that a patient not only brush their teeth three times daily, but also that a certain specific technique be used. A patient must direct the ends of the toothbrush bristles at approximately a forty five degree angle to the bite plane (which is an imaginary plane that passes between the upper and lower jaws and is parallel to the surface of the earth when a human is standing), and brush back and forth in short, almost vibratory strokes. If the patient brushes back and forth in a long, gliding motion, rather than a short, vibratory motion, the patient risks notching the enamel at the roots of the teeth over long periods of time. Also, if the forty five degree angle of the bristle ends to the bite plane in not maintained, plaque removal is incomplete and inefficient. Incomplete plaque removal poses the threat of gum disease to the patient, which is now a much greater problem than caries prevention.
Even with instructions and demonstrations by their dentists and dental hygienists, a majority of dental patients will not use the correct technique described above. This incidence of patient non-compliance is likely due to the necessity for the patient to make a conscious effort to think about the mechanics of correctly holding the toothbrush, which is a thought process easily forgotten during the rather dull tedium of brushing one's teeth. Moreover, non-compliance may also be attributed to the unnatural feel of holding a conventional toothbrush handle in the hand at an angle of forty five degrees. The most comfortable way to hold the human hand in front of the head while grasping an elongate object results in conventional toothbrush handles being held at about a five to ten degree angle to the bite plane. To tilt the handle to the extent needed to achieve a forty five degree angle requires an unnatural-feeling twist of the forearm. Therefore, it is one object of the present invention to provide a novel toothbrush that directs the bristle face to the bite plane at approximately a forty five degree angle while being held in the hand in a natural, comfortable way and which eliminates the necessity for the patient to consciously think about correct holding techinique.
Another consideration in this area is that the accumulation of plaque at and slightly beneath the gumline must be completely and efficiently removed, while affording a certain degree of comfort to the patient. Conventional toothbrush bristle heads that are substantially flat suffer from the problem of trying to cover contoured surfaces of the teeth with a flat, planar surface of bristle ends. Bristle dispersement is not even, a snug fit of bristle ends against the teeth is not achieved, and more effort than is necessary must be expended by the patient to remove the plaque. Many past inventions in this area have attempted to come up with a bristle head face that does not present a flat, planar surface to the teeth and gums. Most prior designs suffer from the design defect of having a conical or ridge-like projection somewhere on their bristle face. Since the gums are among the most touch-sensitive tissues in the body, such conical or ridge-like surfaces are likely to cause needless discomfort to the patient who is careful to brush at the gumline, in effect penalizing them for their attention to technique. Therefore, it is another object of the present invention to provide a toothbrush that permits close-fitting, intimate contact with the curved surfaces of the teeth while not causing needless discomfort to the patient using it. A closely related object of the present invention is to provide a novel toothbrush whose bristle head face has alternating concavities and convexities that are designed to intimately follow the alternating curved surfaces of the teeth themselves.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a toothbrush that can be attached to an electrical means for creating a rapid, reciprocal motion of the brush against the teeth.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a toothbrush that can be rotated about the axis of the longitudinal plane of the handle, to any angle deemed to be advantageous, and to be equally maneuverable by either right-handed or left-handed users.
A preferred embodiment of the manual version of the present invention has the objective of offering the user an additional direction of bristle face motion not presently available by toothbrushes of the prior art. This motion is in diagonal directions, rather that up-and-down or to-and-fro directions.